734 



Hercules Club 



ache tree, and, erroneously, Prickly ash. It attains a maximum height of about 

 13 meters, with a trunk 3 dm. thick, but is usually much smaller. 



The trunk, branches, and leaf-stalks are very prickly. The thin bark is brown 

 outside and yellow within. The young twigs are very stout. The terminal bud 

 is blunt, nearly 2 cm. long, the lateral ones flattened and much smaller. The 

 leaves are alternate, often a meter long or more, twice pinnate; the numerous 

 leaflets are ovate, thick, pointed, stalked, toothed, 2.^ to 10 cm. long, dark green 



Fig. 672. Hercules Club. 



above, very pale and sometimes a little hairy beneath; the bases of the stout leaf- 

 stalks sheath the stem. The tree blossoms from June to August. The small 

 white flowers are very numerous in hairy panicled umbels; each individual flower 

 is about 4 mm. broad and slender-stalked; each umbel is subtended by several 

 small bractlets; the calyx is minute; there are 5 spreading petals, 5 stamens alter- 

 nating with the petals, a 5-celled inferior ovary, and 5 styles. The fruit is an 

 ovoid black berry about 6 mm. long, becoming 5-lobed when mature. 



The tree is of rapid growth and much planted for ornament. The wood is of 

 little value, being brittle, soft, and weak. Both the bark of the root and the berries 

 have a limited use in domestic medicine. 



